To Revel
by EosphorosWriting
Summary: ..is to be Free. It all started with a mask he hated making... Various bouts of gore and other general things not to be read by those beneath the age of 18 in the United States will be featured in this fiction later on. Do tread carefully.
1. Chapter 1

Uta hesitated before riveting the final piece onto the mask before him.

Normally he handled his commissions in his own vision of the person who came in. But this one was different.

_He hadn't even heard the door open, much less smell the ghoul that entered his studio a few minutes after he'd closed. That alone was enough to make him suspicious when he turned to see the figure in is doorway. Though their face held innocence enough, their sclera were pitch and a long blood red tail moved slowly behind them; a simple Bikaku. And as for a gender… he couldn't tell; flat chested with a simple tank top, as well as long, tight fitting pants. Their hair was long and wavy, but nappy and not well taken care of. Their face had sharp lines, but was as androgynous as the rest of them._

_ "Sorry but the studio is closed." His posture stayed neutral. He'd dealt with cannibals in his studio before. But the ghoul pulled a tattered sketchbook from its jacket and laid it on the counter, keeping its distance as it slid the well-worn book towards him. _

_It was open to a specific page of a mask sketch. It was simple, but odd. The face was blue and plain, save for four eyeholes covered with a fine black mesh for visibility outwards, but not inwards. A swift glance up at the ghoul, standing so still at the end of the counter, showed a lack of said extra eyes. But he looked back to the drawing, his eyes drawn to the most prominent feature. Two long, onyx horns curled off of either side of it, like ram's horns._

_Simple enough._

"_I can do it." He sighed, "Though I wish you'd come earlier. I closed a little while ago."_

_The ghoul looked down at its feet and nodded. Their arms moved behind their back; apologetic. Uta felt a wave of exasperation, but motioned the ghoul over, "Alright, come over here and let me take some measurements."_

_He posed a couple of questions, but the ghoul stayed silent, shaking its head when he asked it simple yes or no questions. To others, it simply pointed at its throat. _

_Mute? Perfect. Yet he kept his demeanor cool. He even offered a notebook for them to write in, but they simply denied it. Once he had everything he needed, the ghoul tore out the mask's page in the sketchbook, leaving that page on the counter before slipping out the door as silently as they came in._

In short, he knew nothing about the person that would be behind this mask. He'd had difficult customers before but this one almost felt impersonal. He leaned back after finally putting the piece on and crossed his arms with a huff. He was not happy with this work at all. But he'd been glared at when he suggested small changes to the design. He knew he'd perhaps do a better one just to satisfy his need to elaborate on the design. Leave it as a display piece in his studio. As it was, he stood and draped cloth over the mask and its stand.

He picked up the yellowed page of the sketchbook and looked it over again, the paper covered with notes of his own around the design. The ghoul had talent in sketching, he would admit, but their visions seemed to be on opposite ends of a spectrum. He turned back to the covered piece and shook his head before shoving the paper behind his counter.

The ghoul who'd commissioned it likely wouldn't be back for a few days.


	2. Chapter 2

It wasn't long before the ghoul came back. And again they managed to slip by him. Now he turned at the sound of fabric rustling and a voiceless gasp. The ghoul was already at the mask, having uncovered it. Thin, pale hands drifted over the edges of it, as if cupping a person's face. Their eyes widened and an expression like joy swept over their face.

Uta couldn't help but smile. Even if he hadn't liked making it, this was something honestly new to him. He'd made something come to life for this ghoul and they looked about ready to cry. Their Bikaku curled around them as their fingers danced across the horns.

Fingertips curled beneath the edges of the mask and slowly lifted up, sliding it free of the mannequin. They held it to their chest and hugged it before looking to Uta with a grin. They slipped on the mask immediately afterwards, and Uta slid over to held them fasten the back of it. Money was happily passed from commissioner to artisan, but Uta laid a hand on the ghoul's shoulder before they dashed out the door, effectively stopping them. The mask brought an almost unnerving stoic feel to the ghoul's face as they tilted their head at him.

"Forgive me for asking, but why this design in particular?" He motioned to the mask, almost now appearing to be the bearer's face. They dug out the sketch book again and held up a new picture; this time of a creature. Bald and horned, with the exact same face as the mask. It was tall and thin with four spindly arms and long legs like a deer. A long tail like the commissioner's Bikaku trailed behind it. Its skin was a pale sky blue with four vibrant eyes staring at him, watching him, it seemed. The ghoul tapped the picture, and then they pointed to themself.

"That's… you?"

They nodded quickly before putting the book away again.

"That's… interesting." He'd heard of such things as 'otherkin' or some such from his human interactions, but he'd never truly met such an individual. Then they hugged him, shocking him into stillness as they let go and bolted from the studio. A light laugh left Uta's lips and he scratched his head for a moment as he looked at the now-empty mannequin.

He turned to slip through the curtain that separated his living quarters and the studio, walking to a mask he'd been working on back there. A remake of the commissioner's as he'd hated making it. But now looking at his remake, it seemed unnatural; too complex. Now that he knew what it was and what it represented, he sat down to take it apart; to use those parts for other masks in the future.


	3. Chapter 3

_"One, two, three and four,_  
_The devil's knockin' at your door..."_

-The Pretty Reckless; "Heaven Knows"

Knock, Knock, Knock...

A groan, "We aren't open yet!" Touka groaned and glared towards the door of the coffee shop before continuing to sweep the main room.

"Someone at the door?" The manager stepped out from the back door, chuckling softly.

More insistent knocking followed by a muffled, and yet familiar voice. She couldn't understand what it was saying, though he knew the owner of the voice. Why the hell was- She set the broom aside and went to go unlock the door and let Uta in.

The sunglasses-donned ghoul grinned and waved at her, "Hello~" He stepped in, "Have you heard the news?" He pulled off his glasses and slid into a chair at the counter, "I was right."

"Right?" The manager laughed softly, "About what?" He stepped behind the counter and stood across it from Uta. Touka locked the door back and hopped into a nearby chair as well to listen. Uta didn't visit for just nothing usually. Especially given that his studio was supposed to open in an hour or so.

"Feral ghouls are making a move on the city." Uta stated matter-a-factly.

"Feral ghouls?" Touka looked between Uta and the manager, who's face had settled into a frown of concern, "Wait, you mean those stragglers out in the wilderness?" She scoffed, making a face at the manager's seeming concern over them, "A few have come into the city before, the poor things were snapped up by Doves within a day every time."

Uta laughed, "Feral ghouls are like wolves. Alone and starving they're easy to overpower. When they're banded together and starving, now that's a different story." He glanced to the TV that was off right now, "See if it's on the news. I heard about it from someone else this morning. It happened last night, so I'm sure it's everywhere."

The manager huffed through his nose and walked over to it and turned it on. It was the end of a segment.

_"...and when we return, we'll cover the shocking news of a prison bus turned buffet for a seemingly new gang of ghouls on the outskirts of the city..."_

The picture shown beside the woman in true news-channel fashion was a helicopter-view of what appeared to be someone standing on top of an overturned bus. Then it went to commercials.

Uta made a face and huffed through his nose, "Well, I guess we'll hear the humans' side in a second." He turned back to the other two, "From what I've heard, it started out as an attack from a single ghoul who rammed into the bus and threw it off the side of the road. The police escort cars were crushed with the people still inside, then a hoard of others dove in like vultures and picked the bus clean of everyone inside." He looked back at the tv, still showing a commercial, "And apparently they have a helicopter recording of it."

He'd heard news that one ghoul in particular had been among them. Obviously wasn't the one standing on the bus in the initial image. That someone had bright orange hair and had dark skin.

Then the news came back on with a warning.

_'The following segment contains images not suited for certain audiences.'_

"Looks like they're gonna show the whole thing..." Touka muttered under her breath. The manager just nodded.

There was commentary by the news crew over the video segments, but the three hardly paid attention.

There was no sound from the video itself, but the blurry image was clearly from the camera of an escort helicopter, trained on the bus below. A shape-obviously humanoid-slammed into the side of the buss as it was going over a bridge. The bus fell out of view as the helicopter had to swerve to turn back around, the camera wildly trying to focus on where the bus had landed. The police cars that had been following it were attacked as well, roofs caved in as two rinkaku type ghouls landed on them from some high building. Uta sat up a little straighter as the camera focused for half a second on the one wearing a mask. Ram horns.

He narrowed his eyes, but continued to watch as the camera moved to the bus at last. A ghoul was standing on the over turned vehicle, staring into the windows of the bus.

That was the ghoul from the image before. As the three watched, he turned and looked up at the helicopter. Right as an outright hoard of ghouls poured from alleyways and the sewers, all seeming to be laughing and whooping and hollering as they descended on the bus, tearing into the armored metal vehicle like it was butter.

The video ended. Touka's jaw was slack as she continued to stare-unseeing-at the television. The Manager's mouth had pressed into a thin line.

Uta was as straight faced as ever.

"So that's how it happened." The tattooed ghoul hummed lightly and tapped his jaw, "They weren't lying when they said how gruesome it was."

Shock kept Touka silent and the manager seemed deep in thought.

They spent a few minutes like this, until Enji came storming in the door, "Did you all see the-?" He froze as he saw the news on the TV and the expressions on everyone's face. Uta offered him a smile and a light wave. The man blinked twice before standing up straighter, "W-Well of course you have! It's unheard of!" He was quickly over at the bar, "Feral ghouls just don't team up like that!"

Finally the manager spoke.

"That ghoul who knocked the bus over." Everyone stopped and looked at him, "Enji, do you remember him?"

"How could I forget? I knew that little shit wouldn't just go quiet after he fled the city, but I never expected him to come back! Not like that!" Enji pointed fervently at the television.

Touka turned around, "What? Who is he?" She looked back and forth between the two.

"Only ghoul in the world known to not heal. Did you see his missing arm?" Enji exclaimed.

Uta took a turn to speak, "Of course she didn't, the video was so blurry, you'd have to know it was him to pick it out." He tilted his head to the side with an exasperated sigh. Then he looked to the girl, "That ghoul was Puck. Known to the CCG as 'The Tiger'. I never met him personally, though." He glanced to the Manager, eyes narrowing slightly.

Silence fell again.

It was long and restless. Touka had so many questions but she couldn't even know where to begin.

No one noticed a sheet-faced Kaya at the door until she spoke, having been there for the majority of the conversation, "They're going to move on the city."

Heads turned. Stomachs dropped.

"I saw _him_ on the way here. He was moving. I didn't see any others... but I've got a really bad feeling. If he's leading them, then..."

The manager huffed softly, "He's going to get himself killed at last, isn't he?"

"And kill so many others in the process..." Enji added.

Touka didn't know what to think. And neither did Uta.

From the way the other three talked about him, he seemed like someone to be worried about. Almost afraid of.

But also someone they might have been friends with once.


End file.
